Stage Smarts: Please Don't Yell at the Soundman!

You know, the guy who just doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing and can’t quite get that ringing frequency out of the FOH (Font of House) as you’re microphone checking one-two-one-two.

If you’ve been performing long enough, it’s certainly happened to you. I know it’s happened to me.

Have you ever been in the audience at a show and noticed that the sound was completely horrible and had the artist on stage threatening the soundman, ”Turn me up, check check, turn me up soundman or I’m gonna come see you!”

This most likely happened at a hip-hop concert, but nevertheless one of the most annoying things to happen during a show is to have the sound all jacked up. I mean, music is sound, right? And we’re on stage for people to see an incredible performance, but most importantly to actually hear the performance. Sux when the guy on the board doesn’t seem to get that right, right?

But there’s nothing like a guy or girl who does get it right!

The truth is, despite the fact that most of us are the most amazing artists on the planet, and everyone in the world should be familiar with our music, the soundperson probably doesn’t know our music at all.

He or she probably does know the board pretty well and has probably mixed countless bands that don’t sound anything alike on that same system.

While it could help if the soundman was a little familiar with your music and how it was supposed to sound, the reality is, that prolly won’t happen. Being a soundman is a thankless job, so take a moment and let the ones who rock know they rock. Let the not-so-good-ones down easy. Besides, when you’re on stage acting like an ass in front of everybody, yelling at the soundman, the audience is facing you, not him.

Matter of fact, thank the great sound-guys. Thank the shitty sound-guys, too, that way nobody will ever make you out to be the bad guy. Besides, that same sound person may end up becoming huge, and he’ll never forget how you treated him on his way up.

Keep it professional. Everybody will remember that.

Divinity Roxx has wielded her bass guitar as a weapon in front of 50,000 screaming Beyoncé fans. She’s toured and appeared on recordings with Grammy Award Winning bass virtuoso Victor Wooten. She’s shared the stage with such artists as Kanye West, Jay-Z, George Michael, and Destiny’s Child. But it is in her solo performances where Divinity Roxx shines brightest. Find out more about her and her music at www.divinityroxx.com